By Donna Smith
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Consumer advocate Ralph Nader,blamed by many Democrats for their loss of the White House inthe 2000 election, said on Sunday he is launching anotherindependent campaign for the White House.
Nader, who will turn 74 this week, announced his longshotpresidential bid on NBC's "Meet the Press" saying that neitherthe Democrats nor the Republicans were addressing problemsfacing Americans.
Nader called Washington "corporate occupied territory" thatturns the government against the interests of the people. "Inthat context, I have decided to run for president," he said.
Democrats said they do not expect Nader, who also ran as anindependent in 2004, to have much of an impact.
"When you get into running for your third or fourth time, Idon't think people will pay that much attention to it, and Iwouldn't see it having any effect on the race," VirginiaDemocratic Gov. Tim Kaine said on "Fox News Sunday."
In an interview with Reuters, Nader said he will push thecandidates on a number of issues including health care andchanging the tax system to shift the burden away from wageearners and put it on things like pollution, tobacco and "WallStreet speculation" and reduce taxes on wages.
Nader dismissed Democratic criticism of his latest bid forthe White House.
"For anybody who thinks that the third try is somethingthat should be demeaned, it represents persistence, itrepresents never giving up the struggle for justice," Nadersaid. "The forces of injustice never take a holiday."
Nader ran for president in 2000, when he got about 2.7percent of the national vote as the Green Party candidate. ManyDemocrats blamed Nader for draining votes from Democrat Al Goreand tipping the election in favour of Republican George W.Bush. He also ran as an independent in 2004, but got only atiny fraction of the vote.
Nader said he expects to do better this time and will workto get his name on the ballot in all 50 states.
Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee, appearing onCNN's "Late Edition," said he thought Nader could pull votesaway from the Democratic nominee.
"Naturally Republicans would welcome his entry into therace and hope that maybe a few more will join in," Huckabeesaid.
Democratic candidates Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. BarackObama criticized the independent candidate.
"That's really unfortunate. I remember when he did thisbefore, it didn't turn out to well, for anyone, especially ourcountry," she said. "I hope it's kind of a just a passing fancythat people won't take too seriously."
Obama, Clinton's rival for the Democratic presidentialnomination, was asked on Saturday about a Nader candidacy. "Mysense is that Mr. Nader is somebody who, if you don't listenand adopt all of his policies, thinks you're not substantive,"he said.
(Additional reporting by Claudia Parsons, Jeff Mason andNancy Waitz; Editing by David Wiessler)
(To read more about the U.S. political campaign, visitReuters "Tales from the Trail: 2008" online athttp://blogs.reuters.com/trail08/)
